


Tiny Little Bows

by Snurtlicious



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Cupid AU, Daichi is a cupid, Daichi's POV, M/M, and Suga is an extremely problematic case, for spoopy reasons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 09:03:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3350975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snurtlicious/pseuds/Snurtlicious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cupid Daichi gets assigned to the case of Koushi Sugawara, a flower shop owner with a terrible dating record. After catching his eye on the case, Daichi becomes enamored and can't resist when Koushi asks him out on a date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tiny Little Bows

It was nearly the busiest day of the year, and I was in full swing. People were pairing off effortlessly. A cool winter breeze blew by and the small man with the spiky hair across the street unconsciously leaned into his taller friend. I say friend, but they wouldn’t be just friends for long. The taller man bent down and pecked his friend on the cheek.

I laughed a little when they realized what happened, but they went with about on their way with rosy cheeks and smiles. Height differences were one of my favorite parts of the job, especially in same-sex couples. Love was in the air, after all. Being a cupid was a job that I relished. Tomorrow was Valentine’s Day, and the birds and bees were out in full effect.

I was assigned to certain cases, of course, people who were difficult to match up with others for whatever reason, but we got extra points for couples that we made on the way. I was sure I’d clean up nicely after the giant and the smaller man. They were cute together anyway.

I headed down the street, watching the couples swoon as I walked by. Ever since I got this job, I’d always had a knack for it. I didn’t even have to try. Stopping in front of the pale yellow building, I looked past the flowers in the window to find the owner.

He was a younger man that they tried to pair up with someone around this time each year. His file said he was a difficult case for an undetermined reason, so they passed him down to me this year. I spotted Koushi in the back, speaking to a woman at the counter.

He was strangely handsome. He had a coif of shiny platinum hair, like it was nearly metal itself, a smile that probably grew the flowers in his shop, and a small beauty mark near his left eye. He glanced towards the window, but quickly returned back to the customer. People couldn’t see me unless I wanted it to happen, so it wasn’t an issue.

I wanted to make quick work of him, but the woman checking out and he had very low compatibility. I scanned around the area, but there really weren’t any good matches for him here either. I took the opportunity to slip into the shop as the woman was leaving.

The walls were lined with dozens of pots of flowers in every shape, shade, and aroma I could even imagine. It was like I’d entered into someone’s personal garden. The shop smelled pleasantly earthy and appeared to be in great shape. It was neat and tidy and probably well taken care of. Koushi seemed incredibly conscientious so how was he still single?

He was sticking some money into the cash register when I approached. He was even better up close. He had a slender frame, clothed in a red button up and blue jeans. He looked to be dressed for Valentine’s Day, but he didn’t even have a date.

“Oh!” He turned and jumped a little. “You scared me, I didn’t think anyone was still here.”

I jumped in reply. Why could he see me? “Uh, sorry. I came in after the other woman.”

“It’s no problem.” He closed the cash register and leaned over the counter. “Can I help you find anything or are you just looking around?” His voice sounded bright and hopeful. How on earth was this guy still single?

“No, I’m just browsing, thanks.” I turned away and stepped around one of the shelves so he couldn’t see me.

“Just let me know if you need help.” He said to my back. This was unreal. I felt my heart thrumming in my chest and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that I had a crush. I could get sacked for something like this.

I peeked out from behind a bright yellow flower. Koushi was humming something quietly to himself while his hands idly wrapped a beautiful bouquet of flowers. His fingers seemed incredibly adept at arranging them to maximize the beauty of the flowers, while the flowers only maximized his beauty.

Wait, I needed to stop. Gawking at him would only fuel my fire and keep me from getting him an actual date. There wasn’t anything that stood out to me that would cause him to be a problem case. There should’ve been people lined up around the block to get a date with the handsome flower shop owner.

In that instance, another man slinked in. He had a mop of brown hair that swooped towards the back of his head and a gaze that seemed like he never took anything seriously. He strutted up to the counter and casually sized Koushi up, just like he was a piece of meat. There was no compatibility between them at all.

“So, are you ever going to go out on that date with me, Suga?” His voice sounded like he was trying to guilt him into it. Koushi was obviously uncomfortable. His stance had shifted from a comfortable slouch and the tension in his shoulders even made me uncomfortable.

“Sorry, Oikawa. I’m just not interested.” Koushi reached across his chest and rubbed the back of his arm. Without thinking, I swept back around the shelves.

“I finished watering the plants for you, Koushi.” I continued walking until I was on the other side of the counter and I slowly wrapped my arm around his waist, winking at him to get him to play along.

However, I didn’t anticipate how far he was willing to go. “Thank you.” He turned and pressed a gentle kiss right on my lips.

“What the hell, Suga?” The man, Oikawa, sounded disappointed. “You’re always single, how’d you tie this guy down?”

“Shut up, he’s really cute.” I couldn’t even look at him, my face was too hot.

He scoffed and leaned up from the counter. “Fine, but I’ll be back for that date when you get tired of this asshole over here.”

I clenched my fist and didn’t let up until that smug jackass had cleared the store and Suga had pressed another kiss onto my cheek. “Thanks for that, he’s been pestering me about a date for about too long.”

I turned even redder and tried not to trip over my words. “It’s not a problem, Koushi.”

A silver eyebrow went up. “How come you know my name?”

I froze for a moment. “The… sign out front has your name on it, right?”

“Oh! You’re right. How could I forget that?” He laughed a little. “Can I ask your name, boyfriend?”

I couldn’t imagine how I could blush more than I already was in that instance, but my heart was about to explode out of my throat. “I’m Daichi.”

He smiled and extended his hand. “Can I ask you on date then?” I took his palm, even though my hand was no doubt covered in sweat. He didn’t even flinch. “I mean, if you’re single. It’s Valentine’s Day and this is a flower shop, I can connect the dots.”

I immediately pulled my hand back and stuck it up in front of me. “No! It’s not like that. I just… don’t know if that’s something that I should be doing.” It was true that I could get fired, but there was something captivating about this guy that I couldn’t put my finger on.

“Oh, are you straight? I just thought since you came over and helped me out, but it’s no big deal.” He smiled, despite having talked himself out of a date.

“It’s not like that either, really.” I shrugged and looked away. He sure wasn’t making this easy, but I wasn’t either. “You know what,” I sighed. “I’ll take you up on that offer.”

His already ravishing smile seemed to brighten up even more and I felt a strange serenity overtake me. “Great! The shop closes at six if you want to meet me here then, my treat.”

I just nodded and sped away, fear welling up in my gut. I could survive being fired. I could always go work retail or something significantly more mundane than this.

I took a few steps down the street and noticed a newer cupid walking towards me. “Hey, Tobio.”

His dark hair offset his dark gray-blue eyes, though he had a serious demeanor. His sharp features were only put off by the fact that in conversation he tended to be a little more awkward than serious. His eyes bounced off the flower shop and landed on me. “Do you know what you just did?”

Ah, crap. Even if he hadn’t seen it first hand, it’d probably be pretty difficult to not detect something like that. “No, what are you talking about?” I lied, poorly.

His usual scowl deepened even further. “That human asked you on a date and you accepted.”

Okay, maybe he was sharper than I gave him credit for. “And what do I have to do to get you to keep your mouth shut about it?” There had to be a way to bribe him out of it.

He looked away, and I could swear his face reddened just a touch. “I don’t want anything from you,” he didn’t make eye contact. “I just want to know how it goes.”

I felt my eyebrow go up on its own. “And why is that?” I took a few steps towards him. “Do you have a little crush too, Tobio?”

He turned his back completely. “No way. I could never fall in love with a human, no matter how cute he is!” Tobio sounded defiant enough, but that last little part completely gave him away. I rolled my eyes and put my arm on his shoulder.

“It’s not too much to be worried about, Tobio. If you have a crush, you should just ask him.” I tried to comfort him, but he just shrank away from my touch. The corners of his mouth were curled downward even farther and he looked more distressed than angry.

“But we could get fired and I only just got a job I’m good at, Daichi.” Despite being kind of awkward, he had a great intuition. Hell, he was probably better at setting people up than I was.

“I know, Tobio.” I clapped him on the shoulder again. “But sometimes there are more important things than a job, like that flower shop owner. You should go see him, he’s too cute.” I paused. “But he’s mine, so don’t get any ideas.”

He chuckled a little and pushed my hand off. “I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.”

I patted his back and continued on back down the road. I still had another person to deal with this year, but they weren’t really a problematic case like with Koushi Sugawara.

I made short work of Asahi Azumane. It turned out that he had been the one that I’d seen earlier on the street with his tiny, wild-haired friend. I guess that killed my bonus, but I was still going to reap the rewards of a date with Koushi.

Checking my watch, I pushed open the door to the flower shop to see that the entire inside had been rearranged. All the shelves now set flush to the right wall, the blinds had been closed, and now a small circular table with one candle on it sat poised in the middle of the room.

Suga took a step out of the backroom and jumped. “Ah! You’re early, I’m not quite ready yet.” He still smiled bright enough to make the sun jealous. “You seemed a little iffy about going out earlier, so I thought ‘why not stay in’?” He walked over with two clean white plates and sat one on each side.

“Are you always ready for a date in this place, or am I just that special?” I admired how straightforward he was.

He grinned a little. “Well, I do live upstairs, but this is the first time I’ve ever done something like this, so yes and no.” Koushi slipped back off into the backroom. I took a seat in the wooden chair and nearly seized when the lights suddenly went out. I heard a pop in the back, and then a million tiny lights, that I hadn’t even noticed when I came in, blinked on. Coupled with the subtle ambiance from the candle, they created the perfect date atmosphere.

The colors of the flowers seemed to dance off the walls as he came back with two literal silver platters. Who even was this guy and why was he so perfect? At this point, I was considering putting a ring on his finger and never letting him leave my sight. That was when he tripped and the two meals flew through the air. One of them slapped me right in the face and the other platter took a nose dive straight for the family jewels.

I was on the floor, in excruciating pain. Koushi jumped back up and ran over to me, pulling the steak and salad off my clothes. “Oh no, not again.” He muttered. “Daichi, are you alright?”

Not wanting to start the string of curses welling up in my gut, I just nodded. After another couple of seconds, I wiped the tears out of my eyes and tried to lean forward. “Happy Valentine’s Day.” I eked out.

Koushi just laughed a little bit and helped me back up to the chair. “I guess dinner’s out then. I should’ve known that was going to happen.”

“What do you mean? Do you accidentally toss platters of food onto your dates a lot?” I tried to laugh, and hoped it would ease the tension, but his face didn’t seem to grow any less serious.

“Uh, this time it was the platters, the time before that the candle fell over and burned a hole in his pants, then the time before that was the steak knives, and I don’t even want to get into what happened with the tulips.” He shook his head and began to clean the mess up off the floor. I guess this explained why he was a problematic case. Koushi had the worst luck out of anyone I’d ever seen before.

I hated to even consider it, but I think that made me like him even more. Koushi was cute and obviously knew how to play the game, but there was just some block that prevented him from getting too close to anyone… literally. The way he sputtered around the shop while trying to dispose of the ruined meal was precious.

“How about we go out then?” I suggested, finally having recovered from being hit in the most sensitive part of my anatomy. “I know it’s Valentine’s, but somewhere has got to have a free table.”

Koushi lips pursed a little bit and he raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you mean you want to continue with the date?” He looked dumbfounded. “That’s never happened before.” He whispered at the end.

“No harm done. I might be a little swollen tomorrow, but I think I’ll live.” I pulled myself out of the chair. “Pretty sure there’s a cute diner down the street if you want to bite, my treat.” I winked. Koushi beamed up at me and, like a bat out of hell, finished cleaning up the mess of the dinner he’d made. Before I knew it, he was locking the flower shop up tight, bag in hand, and we were heading down the street.

The real question was: should we hold hands or not? I chewed at a spot on my cheek and slowly reached my hand out as we walked down the street. I immediately shied away once we made contact, but Koushi just blushed and grabbed my hand. His hand was warm and refreshing against the sting of the mid-February air.

We reached the diner a little sooner than I would’ve liked and he let go. Despite the night, it was surprisingly empty inside. There were only a few couples dining, one with an alarming crop of orange hair seated across from a serious-looking bo—Tobio? His eyes widened a little bit as we made eye contact, but quickly went back to his date. I was pretty proud that he’d even managed to work up the nerve to ask him out.

I coughed gently as we walked by, noticing that he seemed to be mumbling something about knives? What a weird guy. Koushi and I sat on the worn leather seats, noting they’d seen better days. They were a little cracked in some places, revealing the yellow foam within. The diner itself seemed to be in a similar condition, but it had an aura of novelty that was always welcome on a date.

I could see Tobio from where I sat at, and it was totally tripping him up. If he hadn’t been all red and blushing before, he was now. “What’s the matter?” Koushi turned around to examine the rest of the room.

“That kid over there with the redhead is one of my coworkers and I was just watching him sweat a little.” I winked at Tobio one last time before focusing back in on Koushi. “Sorry, he was just really nervous and I was kind of hoping that it would work for him.”

“That’s fine. It’s nice to see that you take your friendships so seriously. I only have a couple but everything is super casual, so we don’t really hang out or anything.” Koushi shrugged as the waitress came by to take our order. She smiled when we both ordered the same cup of coffee and clicked away.

“So, are you new around here then?” I tried not to look at Tobio. “I haven’t seen you very much.”

“Yeah, I just got the funds to open my flower shop. It’s really great though, I never would’ve imagined that I could actually just be doing something so mundane.” He seemed to catch himself on something. “Not that there’s anything wrong with mundane, I was just doing a lot more unusual things before I left home. Ah, not that I’m unusual or anything I just, uh.”

“Calm down, you don’t have to be so nervous. I’m pretty unusual myself.” The waitress returned and took our orders. I just wanted a simple burger, but Koushi got breakfast.

“There’s no way you can be that unusual, you’re so nice. Even after I hit you in the crotch and ruined our date.” His gaze fell to the faux-wood table.

“Doesn’t that make me unusual though? I could’ve just ditched out on you, but you’re way too cute for something like that. Wait, I mean,” I blushed all the way up to my ears. “You know, you shouldn’t sell yourself so short. Bad things happen to everyone.”

“I guess that’s true, I just invite a little more misfortune than most others.” He shrugged, but I could tell he was just playing a bit shy.

“I wouldn’t say that, maybe just watch your step next time.” I glanced down at my crotch with an exaggerated look of pain on my face. Thankfully, he loosened back up and seemed ready to continue the conversation.

“Why don’t you tell me about yourself, Daichi? What do you do for a living?” Koushi seemed really intent on knowing what I did.

I idly scratched the side of my neck. “I guess you can say that I’m like a matchmaker.”

“Oh, so you work for like a dating company then? That’s cute, it suits you.” He flashed his pearly whites at me again, and it made me feel better about that fact that I would probably get fired for failing at finding a client a date and then dating that client instead. Talk about having a problematic fav.

“Thanks, I’ll probably get canned soon though since, y’know, today is the busiest day of the year.” I tried not to make it sound awkward, but there really wasn’t any way to disguise it.

“If you’re going to need a job, I could always use a hand at my flower shop. I only opened recently and I haven’t had a chance to let people know that I’m hiring.” Koushi smiled as he pulled a business card out of his bag and slid it to me across the table. It had the name of his shop, Crows and Chrysanthemums, in a bright yellow script emblazoned across the top with a small swirly sun in the corner. Beside his name were a few phone numbers and a fax number, pretty typical business card fare.

“Thanks, but I don’t want to intrude on you like that.” I sat the card down next to the pool of condensation that had dripped off the side of my drink, careful not to get the paper wet.

“No, I want you to. We can do the interview right now.” Koushi fixed the collar on his shirt and sat up straight in the booth. “What’s your name and age?”

I raised an eyebrow and tried not to laugh at how serious he was acting. “My name is Daichi Sawamura and I am twenty-three years old.”

He nodded. “Can you lift up flower pots, read labels, and water plants regularly? Also, can you run a cash register?”

I flexed my arm a little through my shirt. “I think I can do all of those, yeah. You’ll have to teach me how to run a cash register though.”

“Alright, I can do that. I just have one more question for you, Daichi.” Koushi grinned from ear to ear. “Can I have your phone number?”

My breath caught in my throat when his face lit up. This guy was going to be the death of me, whether by steak knives, tulips, a platter to the crotch, or his smile. “Yes, Koushi, I’ll let you have my number.”

“You’re hired! We’ll just say you can start on Monday. The shop opens at nine sharp.” He stabbed his finger down on the business card right as the waitress came back with our food. Our conversation kind of tapered off as we dug into the meal. I kept staring at him because he was just too cute. I was pretty sure that he caught me looking, but he never said anything if he did. It was just smiles and blushing and it was great.

After our plates were cleaned, I slid out of the booth to go to the bathroom. As soon as the door shut behind me, it swung back open and a flustered Tobio came in.

“Hey, how’s the big date going? He seems pretty cute, you were right.” I asked, expecting him to agree immediately. Instead, he just sputtered and reddened.

“You’re about to leave, right? Can we go with you? I don’t want to be alone with him. I’m pretty sure that he thinks I’m weird.” His normally sharp features seemed to be bent down even more, making him look either pissed or sad. It was hard to say which.

“Nah, I’m sure you’re just exaggerating. He seemed pretty interested from what I saw.” I tried to reassure him.

“I said that he looked ‘knives’ because I couldn’t get out the word ‘nice’.” His expression deadpanned. I grimaced.

“How in the world did you—” I put my hand up. “You know what, I don’t even want to know. Just follow me and Koushi when we leave. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to make your acquaintance.” I turned back to the urinal and finished up. After washing my hands, the two of us went back to the main room to inform our dates that we were going to combine them into an impromptu double date. As expected, Koushi agreed.

I walked up to the little ball of energy and his vacuum of energy date, Tobio. “Alright, this is Koushi. Tobio, Koushi. Koushi, Tobio.” I gestured between the two of them and Koushi extended his hand to shake Tobio’s already trembling hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Daichi told me you two work together? If your employment falls through after today, I’d love it if you put an application in as well.” Koushi flashed his supernova smile again, and I was almost a little jealous that it wasn’t my hand that he was holding.

“It’s knives—NICE to meet you too. This is Shouyou.” Tobio kept his words measured, but still managed to mess up and say knives again. Clearly this kid could make good matches, but he could barely even handle a date of his own.

“Hi! It’s great to meet you, I’m Shouyou.” The little orange haired boy announced his name excitedly. I stuck my own hand out before Koushi could to seize the kid’s. His smile was cute, but it was like I was comparing a candle to the blistering inferno that was Koushi.

“Great to meet you too, Koushi already said it, but I’m Daichi.” I grinned back at Shouyou and released his hand. “Tobio said that you two wanted to come with us, so we can head back down to the flower shop for a bit. I mean, if that’s alright with you, Koushi.”

He seemed a little startled. “Oh, that’s fine, I guess.” I clutched his hand in thanks, and we headed out of the diner. The walk back to his flower shop was brief, but as we neared an alleyway, a mop of blonde hair stuck up in a headband stepped out. Koushi seemed to freeze next to me, and I knew we’d been caught.

Upper ranking cupids had these special rings for extra problematic cases that let them temporarily stop time so they could get close and analyze their client a little better. This particular cupid happened to be my boss, Ukai.

“I don’t know what the hell you two think you’re pulling tonight, but you two need to end it. You had your fun, now break it off and find them dates. I’ll keep it quiet this time.” Ukai sneered at the two of us. He was always a bit of a stickler for the rules, mostly because of his background with his grandfather who was basically the boss of my boss.

“Uh, about that.” I muttered. “I’m quitting.” I knew that Koushi was frozen, but having his hand in made still gave me some small measure of peace.

“The hell do you mean you’re quitting? You’re one of our best guys! I’m not supposed to tell you this, but if you got this guy a date, they were going to promote you to my level. They were going to promote you too, Tobio, to Daichi’s rank.” Ukai was in disbelief.

“I… someone I look up to a lot told me that there were more important things than a job, Ukai.” Tobio was behind me, standing next to an abruptly paused Shoyou.

“You two are freakin’ nuts.” He gave us one last glance, like he was trying to find some way to change our minds. “Whatever. I’ll tell the old man that you two broke protocols and he’ll just fire you.”

Ukai shook his head as he slipped down the alley. Suddenly, Koushi and Shouyou unfroze and we kept walking down the street, as if nothing had happened. Once we reached the shop, Tobio decided that he wanted to split. Since we were fired, he didn’t have anywhere to stay now. I slipped him the key to my apartment and told him that he could stay for as long as he wanted. Tobio nodded and took off with Shouyou. I swear, if they did anything weird and made a mess, I was going to kick him out.

Koushi unlocked the door I was more than shocked to see that the shelves that had been pushed off to the walls were back in the position they’d been in earlier.

“How in the world did this happen? I thought you said you hadn’t hired anyone yet?” I probed, the shock visible on my face.

“You have some explaining to do too, cupid.” His brown eyes met mine, and my blood turned cold.

“What are you talking about, Koushi? That’s crazy!” I tried to laugh it off. There was no way a normal guy like him could’ve caught me.

“It’s less crazy than you’d think, Daichi.” His expression fell a little. “Feel free to run because I’m a witch. I knew you were trying to hide from me when you came in, but I thought you were cute so I just… got you fired instead. I’m really sorry, I never meant to get you involved like this. It’s just that every time I use my powers, bad things happen to me and the people around me.” He gestured around the shop. The way the layout had changed must’ve been a spell. “I used magic to change the layout and for the twinkling lights, I just wanted to set the mood. I’ve tried that for all my dates, but they always end up getting hurt and the date goes wrong. That’s why I’ve never managed to find a valentine before.”

It was a lot of information to swallow at once. My date was a witch that knew I was a cupid. He had bad luck with dates because he liked to use his powers, which make bad things happen, to get the romance right. I had a date that would totally understand what had been going on. We could make this work after all.

“So what are you telling me, Koushi? Are you expecting me to just walk out the door like nothing happened?” I raised my eyebrows. “Because you’ve misjudged me then.”

Koushi smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You don’t have to be so nice to me, Daichi, we only just met today.”

I couldn’t listen to his self-deprecating talk anymore, so I closed the few steps between us and tugged his face up to meet mine. After our lips broke, “For someone who just hired me, you sure are trying to get me out that door.”

His smile cracked and his head slipped down to my shoulder. Koushi’s ears were red though, so he was probably just blushing and didn’t want me to see. “If that’s the case, you’ll have to get used to all my little accidents.”

“You said they’re from romancing, right? That was my old job, so leave all that to me. I’ll romance you so hard, you won’t even be able to see straight, Koushi.” I reached my arms up and pulled him into a hug.

His arms mirrored mine until we were standing in the middle of a veritable flower field in each other’s arms. If that wasn’t romantic, I didn’t know what was. “I should’ve tried dating a cupid a long time ago. I’ve run into lots of them.”

“No way, if you’d done that, we wouldn’t have met!” I pushed him back a little so that I could look him in the face. As I predicted, it was so red that it made his hair look almost white.

“You’re right,” he slipped back into my arms. “Will you be my valentine, Daichi?”

“Of course.” I reached up to muss his silver hair and got another blazing smile from him. Too cute.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! I didn't write another makoharu fic, I decided to write about a different captain/co-captain ship instead. Especially because Suga is very important and deserves happiness.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
